Carpet fastener



. w. s. THoMAs CARPET FASTENEK Filed Feb. e. 1924` 2 sheets-sheet 1 Dec, 16, i924.

` W. S. THOMAS CARPET FASTENER Filed Feb. 6. 1924.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 CAD Patented Dec. 16, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WINGATE S. THOMAS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN OR TO KNAPP BROTHERS MANU- EACTURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

CARPET FASTENER.

Application led February 6, 1924. Serial No. 690,993.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, VVINGATE S. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Carpet Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has to do with certain improvements in building constructions and the like. The invention has reference particularly to improvements in the means whereby the carpet is secured along its edge portion so as to keep it taut and present a finished and sightly appearance.

In certain buildings such as hotels and public places, it is the practice to remove the carpet from the floor periodically for purposes of cleaning and repairing the same. Oftentimes a certain amount of shrinkage takes place during the cleaning operation; and in order to compensate for such shrinkage, it is very customary to make the carpet of slightly larger size than the floor which it covers. In the past it has been very customary to turn the edge p0rtions of the carpet under and tack through the double thickness of material thus pro vided. This procedure, however, possesses the evident disadvantage that the edge of the carpet is damaged severely and an objectionable line is formed at the point of the crease. Furthermore, in certain types of building construction, particularly those using concrete and tile floors, it becomes necessary to provide a nailing strip at the foot of the base board into which the carpet tacks may be driven.

rlhe main object of the present invention is to provide means for securing the edge portion of the carpet in place without the use of nails or tacks or the like, in conjunction with which the use of plugs and nailing strips is also eliminated.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a type and arrangement of construction such that the desired amount of edge portion of the carpet may be accom* moda-ted beneath or within the base board or lower portion of the wall without having to fold the same under. A further object in this connection is to establish the space within which to accommodate this edge portion of the carpet without in any way weakening or impairing the strength and durability of the wall structure.

A further feature of the invention has to do with the provision of an improved means for securing the edge portion of the carpet ifirmly in place so as to keep the carpet properly stretched. In this connection, an object is to provide a form of clip or clamping device which is so constructed that it will take a hold of the carpet and effectively hold the same while at the same time allowing the extreme edge portion of the carpet to project into the space provided for its accommodation.

A further object in connection with the foregoing is to provide a very simple means for attachment of this carpet clamping or holding device to the lower portion of the wall structure, so that it will resist the side pull without having to use nails, bolts or other means for attachment to the iioor of the building.

Still a further object in connection with the foregoing' is to provide an arrangement which will lend itself admirably to use in connection with familiar and well understood implements for stretching the carpet, so that the familiar methods performing this work may still be used in connection with the improved attaching device herein described.

The type of construction herein disclosed is similar to that disclosed in an application for Letters Patent of the United States for v improvements in building constructions and the like, filed by myself and Samuel J. Branson on November' 2G, 1928, as Serial No. 677,135.

@ne of the objects of the present invention is to provide improvements in the general type of construction heretofore disclosed in the said application. These improvements have to do particularly with the relation which the lower edge of the base board bears to the carpet and the carpet holding clip when in place.

Other objects and uses of the invention will appear from a detailed description of the same, which consists in the features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings:

Figure l shows a fragmentary transverse section through the lower portion of a wall and adjoining structure, and through the base. board and nailing strip, "showing one form of my improved construction applied thereto;

F i'g. 2, shows a fiagineiitary horiontal section 'taken on lthe line 242 1of F ig. 1, io'ok'- ing in the direction of the arrows, the same being :an irregular section;

Fig. 3 shows a, view similar' tothat of Fig. 1, with the eXeceptio-n that it illustrates aA modified type of base board structure; and

Fig. 4 shows another modified form of base board structurej Referring first to Figs. land 2, the wall is designated by the numeral 7. It is shown as being a solid wall, but manifestly Acan be either solid or hollow as de'si'red.

It is very customary in tile wall constructions to 'place 'a nailingstrip 8 along the lower portion of the wall so that the base board 9 can be nailed thereto. In such case it is also 'customary to plaster the vouter face ofthe wall down to the position of the nailing strip 8, as shown at 10.

Alongsideof the foot of the. wall is placed a channel shaped strip 11 which has 4the upstanding v'flange 12 at its wall edge and its outer` edge- 13 is preferably turned upwards and then inwardly at right angles, as shown at 1 4; The strip 11, therefore, establishes a,A channel shaped passage whose upper side 15 is open and is of a width less than the inte'rior width of the strip itself.

The channel strip 11 is held in proper position adjacent to the foot of the wall in any convenient manner. In the arrangement of Figs. 1 and 2 this is done by the use of a. seiies 'of clips, 16 each having an upstandingend flange 17 with a. downwardly turned hook 18 at each end. The hooks 18 :along one side of the wall engage the upstanding iange 12 of the adjacent channel strip 11. Tjhus the channel strip is held against ydisplacement away from the wall.

rFhe carpet 19 is preferably laid directly on the floor 2O or on a padding -21 as desired. In 'any case however, it is desirable that the carpet should pass over the flange 13 and lip 14 of the channel 11 in an easy manner and preferably without unnecessary deflection at this point.

The rear portion of the carpet is laid down into the channel. Thereupon one or more plate clips or locking plates 22 are set into the, channel so as to enga-ge the carpet and hold it in place.4 Each of these locking plates together withthe thickness of the xcarpet isof greater width than the channel 15, but is nevertheless of such size thatit @can be set into place, as indicated in 1, by forcing it slightly to the right beneath the lip 14 in order to allow its left hand edge to pass down past the clip 18 and into the locking position indicated.

Vhen the locking plate or plates are in position 'the pull on the oarpetwiil naturally improve lthe locking action, since the tendency will be to force the lloc-.king plate to the ieft, hutthis iiioifeiiieiit is resisted.

Then it is desired to remove the "carpet, the locking plates may first be moved slightlyv to the right or beneath the lip 14 and then tilted upwards whereupon they will disengage.

An excess. edge portion of the carpet, such as 23, is readily accommodated within the space 24 above the locking dev-ice. This space is enclosed by an extension 25 'on theI lower `edge of the base board, ras indi'catedf.

ly carrying this extension 25 'downwaid ly far enough vtodirectly engage the edge portion of the locking plate 22, the. locking engagement is further improved, and any tendency of they channel 11 to lift away from the fioor is effectively resisted. In other words, it heooines unnecessary to fasten the 'channelll directly down to the floor notwithstanding the fact that it is only held in place by the engagement of the clips 18- with the flange 12.

In the construction of Figs.A 1 and 2, the base board extension 25 is in the form of a wooden strip. yIn the modi-fied construction shown in Fig. 3, this wooden stripismodified to the extent that it does not itself `directly engage th'eiocking plate22, but such engagement is effected by a metal llip 26 along the bottom edge of the base board. Furthermore, in this case locking .plates are of modified constructioinas shown at 27, being bowed up on -a -moreg'abrupt angle than in the construct-ion of Fig. 1=.

InV the modified construction of Fig- 4, the wooden base board eXtensi-onis entirely dispensed with and asheet metal base board 28 is substituted. -The lower edge 29 of this base board is then carried downwardly for direct engagement with the locking pflatejBO.

Itis noted that owing to the contact of the lower edge of the base boa-rd imember directly against the locking p iate, the said lower edge is thus effectively supported against lateral vibration. For this reason, the arrangement is such as to effectively prevent any metallic ring of the meta-l base board when struck.

,It is also noted that the presencevof the edge strip of carpet, within the, space 24 effectively deadens the transmission of sound therethrough, so that the noise incident to striking articles of furniture, etc., against the base board is prevented from being transmitted through the wall to the adjoinin room.

oth of the foregoing features are of value and importance in many locations, particularly such as hospitals, hotels, etc.

While I have herein shown and described only certain embodiments of the features of my present invention, still I do not limit myself to the same, except as I may do so in the claims.

I claim:

l. In a building construction, the combination with a floor and a partition thereon, of an upwardly facing channel extending along the surface of the floor adjacent to the outside face of the partition, said channel having at its side away from the partition an upwardly reaching fiange terminating in an inwardly reaching horizontal lip, means at the partition side o-f the channel reaching outwardly to overlie the channel at that point, a carpet laid on the floor and having its edge portion seated within the channel and having' its extreme free edge extending upwards above the channel adjacent to the partition, a locking plate of curved cross section removably seated within the channel above the carpet therein with its concave side facing downwards, said locking plate in conjunction with the thickness of the carpet having a width greater than the distance from the inner edge of the lip to the partition sid-e of the channel at a point beneath the overlying projection aforesaid, whereby when the locking plate is in place within the channel, tension exerted on the carpet tends to force the plate sidewise against the channel wall adjacent to the partition, and a base board member secured to the lower portion of the partition and having its lower portion in engagement with the edge of the locking plate adjacent to the position of the overlying projection aforesaid whereby said base-board holds the locking plate against lateral displacement, substantially as described.

2. In a building construction, the combination with a ioor and a partition thereon, of an upwardly facing channel extending along the surface of the floor adjacent to the outside face of the partition, said channel having at its side away from the partition an upwardly reaching iiange terminating in an inwardly reaching horizontal lip, means at the partition side of the channel reaching` outwardly to overlie the channel at that point, a carpet laid on the floor and having its edge portion seated within the channel and having its extreme free edge extending upwards above the channel adjacent to the partition, a locking plate removably seated within the channel above the carpet therein and having its central portion of higher elevation than its edge farthest removed from the partition, said locking plate in conjunction with the thickness of the carpet having a width greater than the distance from the inner edge of the lip to the partition side of the channel at a point beneath the overlying projection aforesaid, whereby when the locking plate is in place within the channel, tension exerted on the carpet tends to force the plate sidewise against the channel wall adjacent to the partition, and a base board member secured to the lower portion of the partition an'd having its lower edge in engagement with the locking plate at a position further away from the partition than said point of higher elevation, whereby the partition retains the locking plate from: lateral displacement away from the partition, substantially as described.

WINGATE S. THOMAS. 

